Two Men, One Terrifying Madness
by Night-Requiem
Summary: A compare/contrast essay on Apocalypse Now and the book it was based on, Heart of Darkness. Pretty interesting if you know the movie/book. Rated PG because of references to violence, insanity, and the usage of the 'F' word once.


Note: This is only really going to make sense if you've read Heart of Darkness and/or watched Apocalypse Now. If you have not, go do so because they are excellent.   
  
For whatever reason, any italics originally used did not appear when uploaded onto Fanfiction. So, all italics are in *word* but it only happens twice.   
  
I do not own any characters or copyrights; these are merely my analytical opinions of a very impressive book and movie.  
  
English 12-Heart of Darkness  
  
Final Fall Term Paper  
  
Two Men, One Terrifying Madness  
  
"Heart of Darkness" is a disturbing novella, filled with eerie stories of savages, men gone mad, and hollow, soulless men; even more disturbing, and terrifying in its own way, is the screenplay "Apocalypse Now", its story line and characters based on Joseph Conrad's book. Both the movie and book are dark, twisted, with inner stories that make the reader/viewer go back because one viewing is not enough to comprehend what is being told. And no character is more haunting or memorable than Kurtz, may it be the Kurtz from the book or the movie. Their madness is a frightening lesson to all, acting as warnings to all who wander too far into the depths of today's jungles.   
  
There are few differences from the two Kurtz's, but these differences are important, whether in comparing the two character or analyzing their respective roles. Kurtz of "Heart of Darkness" is a company leader in the Congo whose goal is to obtain as much ivory has he possibly can. "Apocalypse Now" Kurtz, though, is a Colonel up in Cambodia and his goal was to fight and win the war in Vietnam. Both man have someone sent after them – Marlow and Captain Willard respectively - except "Heart of Darkness" Kurtz is merely needed to be taken home, while "Apocalypse Now" Kurtz is to be "eliminated with extreme prejudice" (Apocalypse Now). Both men eventually die, but where and how they die is significant; "Heart of Darkness" Kurtz dies on the river, torn away from the animal, inhuman being he had made himself. "AP" Kurtz is brutally killed with a machete by Captain Willard, killed the way he would like to be killed, and even morbidly glad to welcome his death. The final, main difference between the two men is their madness, or more specifically, when they went insane. In "Heart of Darkness", Kurtz is introduced as being 'unsound:' "...but after going three hundred miles, [he] had suddenly decided to go back, which he started to do alone...[the] two fellows there seemed astounded at anybody attempting such a thing." (Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness pg. 34) Later "Military post-doctor-two hundred miles-quite alone now-unavoidable delays-nine months-no news-*strange rumors*." (Emphasis mine)(Heart of Darkness pg. 34). But in "Apocalypse Now," Kurtz tells his strange story to Willard in the most memorable and terrifying monologue of the movie. He describes horror as a necessary friend and then tells the story of the children he and his forces inoculated and how the children's arms were hacked off after the men had left. Kurtz then describes his transition from sane to deranged in horrifying clarity:  
  
  
  
*I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to   
  
tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I   
  
wanted to do. And I want to remember it...  
  
then I realized...like I was shot...Like I   
  
was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet  
  
right through my forehead...And I thought:   
  
My God...the genius of that. The genius.   
  
The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete,   
  
crystalline, pure. You have to have men who   
  
are moral...and at the same time who are able   
  
to utilize their primordial instincts to kill   
  
without feeling...without passion...without   
  
judgment...without judgment. Because it's   
  
judgment that defeats us.* (Apocalypse Now)  
  
Thus, the perception of each Kurtz's insanity (and the change to) is different from one another, but that does not make either one any less shocking.  
  
The similarities of the two men far outweigh the differences, though, especially in how they perceive themselves in the jungle world. Both see themselves as owners and Gods of the jungle and the native people. Marlow first comes in contact with it through the descriptions of what Kurtz felt he owned in "Heart of Darkness:" "You should hear him say 'My ivory.' Oh yes, I heard him. 'My Intended, my ivory, my station, my river, my...' everything belonged to him." (Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness, pg. 49). Not only do they see themselves owning the jungle, though, they see themselves as part of it as well. Both feel apart from or above the rest of the civilized human society, and more comfortable with the natives they control: "Well man, he's gone away. He's gone away. He disappeared into the jungle with his people...he feels comfortable with his people. He forgets himself with his people. He forgets himself..." (Apocalypse Now). Both men also see themselves as poets and artists, reading poetry often and, in "Heart of Darkness" Kurtz's case, dabble in painting.   
  
Lastly, the perceptions of the two Kurtz's by others are often consistent as well. Both men are seen as crazy, unsound, and that they "lacked restraint in the gratification of [their] various lusts." (Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness pg. 57). There is no denial in Willard's mind that Colonel Kurtz has gone completely insane, especially after hearing the tape of Kurtz's snail along the razor blade speech. Both men have entrenched themselves into the jungle, into the darkness without the influence of society or civilized human beings. Their insanity is a warning for those who go too far, beyond the boundaries set for them: "Never get out of the boat. Absolutely goddamn right. Unless you were going all the way. Kurtz got off the boat. He split from the whole fucking program." (Apocalypse Now). At the very heart of their similarities, though, is how they are insane. Both are described as geniuses, gifted men not to be judged as ordinary human beings, yet their actions are without justification or moral reasoning by societal standards. Marlow's realization of just how far gone Kurtz is leaves him in shock, because "he had kicked himself loose of the earth...Soul! If anybody had ever struggled with a soul I am the man. And I wasn't arguing with a lunatic, either...But his soul had gone mad. Being within the wilderness, it had looked into itself and, by Heavens I tell you, it had gone mad." (Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness pg. 65). But somewhere in the horror of Marlow and Willard, a morbid admiration grew for their actions. Very much in the way Colonel Kurtz had began to admire the brutal genius of the children's arms being chopped off, so too does Willard and Marlow look upon each Kurtz's actions with awe and respect: "The more I read and began to understand, the more I admired him. His family and friends couldn't understand it He could have gone for General, but he went for himself instead." (Apocalypse Now). In this, both men have a genius that is remarkable and incredible, but also very terrible as well. As outsiders looking in, the audience has to decide for themselves if Kurtz is someone to be respected and feared, or someone to be feared and never seen again. Readers and watchers must answer for themselves if it really is a better world when Kurtz dies.  
  
The insanity and death of Kurtz is a remarkable event in fictional history, both disturbing and enlightening. Just as Marlow and Willard learn from their journey through the darkness towards Kurtz, so can the world in this age of tainted and lighted wilderness, and curable insanity. There are some boundaries that, once crossed, can not be taken back and whether they should be crossed or not is left up to the individual. How one is to decide can only be determined by themselves and their values-if the risk of insanity is worth the benefits so few will understand or appreciate.  
  
All Heart of Darkness quotations are taken from 'Heart of Darkness', by Joseph Conrad. Edited by Robert Kimbrough, 1963  
  
All Apocalypse Now quotations are taken from the transcript found at the Internet site: http://film.tierranet.com/films/a.now/ix.html   
  
All quotations and ideas are my own unless otherwise stated. 


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